Thursday, January 29, 2009

Life On Mars - Recap & Review - Take A Look At The Lawmen

Life on Mars“Take a Look at the Lawmen”

Original Air Date – Jan. 28, 2009

Tara – TwoCents Staff Writertara@thetwocentscorp.com

Sam's back! Well not back in 2008, but back on our TV screens, this time trying to talk a suicidal jumper off a ledge. It doesn't work, but that's because Nunzio, a cop from a rival precinct, reverse psychologies the guy into jumping. Nicely done, Nunzio. The jumper ends up on Gene's books and that's enough to activate the long-running feud between the two precincts. Gene is ready for war with Sam trying to act like Spartacus.

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Sam's back! Well not back in 2008, but back on our TV screens, this time trying to talk a suicidal jumper off a ledge. It doesn't work, but that's because Nunzio, a cop from a rival precinct, reverse psychologies the guy into jumping. Nicely done, Nunzio. The jumper ends up on Gene's books and that's enough to activate the long-running feud between the two precincts. Gene is ready for war with Sam trying to act like Spartacus.

After the jumper, a guy who lost all his money in the stock market investing in portable phones (ha!), actually jumps, his death ends up on Gene’s books, so Gene launches a war against Nunzio and his precinct. That’s very mature.

The battlefield? The robbery of a Ukrainian bank. Gene decides to show up at the scene despite the robbery being in Nunzio’s district. He doesn’t really have a leg to stand on, but fortunately, for Gene anyway, a woman passing by was shot and killed and managed to die in his precinct. This gives Gene the excuse he needs. While examining her body, Sam sees a tiny robot come out of the woman's wound, which is a little weird. Of course, he's the only one who sees this, and he reacts by running away. Good plan, Sam.

Back in the robbery investigation, Ray finds a witness to the crime who speaks English and is young enough to be convinced to talk. He’s convinced by Sam telling him that Gene was actually the model for Fred Flintstone. Uh huh. Gene is forced to prove this by giving his best “Yabba Dabba Do”. He’s not bad. It works too, as the kid tells them that the robber used the name of the Russian mobster, Lukin.

During the interrogation, Sam meets a social worker named Maria. She's young, pretty, single, and interested in Sam, much to Annie's badly hidden chagrin. One really bad Flintsone reference later and Sam and Maria are having sex in the storage room. Naturally Annie catches him on the way out. It's not awkward at all and it’ll only get more awkward later.

Sam and Annie trace the gun used in the robbery to a guy named Yuri. Nunzio has, of course, arrived there first and is interrogating Yuri. Gene manages to distract Nunzio, ties up Nunzio’s man, and takes Yuri back to the precinct. Yuri tries to bluff his way out of the situation, but his shoes, which really aren’t that ugly, give him away. He confesses to robbing the bank to save his family. Apparently, he paid Lukin to get them out of Russia. In the fine tradition of illegal smugglers everywhere, Lukin now wants another 10,000 or he’ll kill Yuri’s family.

Yuri and Sam end up alone in the interrogation room where it turns out that Yuri was a scientist involved in memory testing. The testing included sending a little robot into the human body to find the soul. Really? That’s just….really?? Anyway. I’m just going to assume that Sam’s hallucinating. My theory is borne out when Sam sees a little robot pop out of the guy's eye. Lovely.

Gene is actually concerned enough about finding Yuri’s family to ask Nunzio for help, but not before Sam guesses that their argument was over a woman. Sam’s right. And it wasn’t just any woman; it was Gene's ex-wife. They met her on the same night and even though Nunzio “called her” (I haven’t the words), she chose Gene, at least at first, eventually leaving him after they had 3 children. This will be important later. Nunzio finally gives him an address after first giving “Eugene” a hard time.

Gene and company show up to arrest Lukin, but instead of using their guns like intelligent cops, Gene's goaded into a fist fight. He then discovers that they're seriously outnumbered. Fortunately, Nunzio decides to bury the hatchet and shows up with his men. The cops and mobsters fight, and the cops come out on top. Unfortunately, Yuri has to go to jail, but he goes knowing that his family is safe. Gene and Nunzio make up at the bar later where Annie tries to tell Sam something. That something? Oh, that Maria is Gene’s daughter. Yep. Oops. Poor Sam.

I thought this was a good episode, but I found the parts with the robot just a little jarring. I’m beginning to think that this show is at its best when they jettison Sam’s weird delusions. What do you think? What’s your favorite part of the show? The past? The present? The weird? Leave your TwoCents below.